It is crucial for all teachers to have a set policies to begin the year. Students need clear expectations and goals to help guide them in having a healthy and successful learning experience in your classroom. This page will give you multiple tips to help you set up your classroom at the beginning of the year. It is extremely important that you stay consistent with your classroom policies and remind the students of their learning goals throughout the year. The following links will give you tips on the first day of school, establishing classroom policies, getting to know your students, and establishing collaboration. Simply use this page as a resource because it is important for every teacher to have policies which they are comfortable with. Every teacher is unique, so your classroom policies to start the year should reflect your unique personality.
Day One
First Day of School
Some helpful tips and main thing that you must have ready before the first day of school. This article includes everything from decorating your classroom, establishing a seating chart, and coming up with a homework policy.
Step by step guide to Day 1
This article gives a step by step guide for experienced as well as beginner teachers on their first day of school. It itemizes everything from what to do before the first day of the year, setting the class structure from the beginning, and setting some key ground rules.
Connecting with Parents
Become a part of your student's life from day one by connecting with parents from the start.
Key policies to start off the year
This article itemizes the Rules of Making Rules
1. Clarify- Create rules that are clear and concise. There should be no question of what is expected of them for the rest of the year.
2. Consistency- Be fair when disciplining students. They will know if you treat them differently and will take you less seriously.
3. Commitment- Put in the effort to stay committed to your rules. Follow up on everything and the students will have a better response.
Restroom Policies
This article gives some helpful hints about how to control excessive bathroom use, a common issue in middle and high schools.
Issues and Situations
This article brings up a lot of important issues about classroom management. One interesting and useful portion of this site itemizes specific issues and great solutions for each situation. It might be helpful to read through possible situations and solutions so that when these issues arise in your classroom, you will have ideas in the back of your head about possible ways to handle the issue.
Getting to Know Your Students & Setting Up Your Classroom
The Importance of Names
The article discusses the importance of teachers being referred to as Mrs. and Mr. in the classroom. Expectations like these should be set on the first day of class. Although many may think that topics like these should obvious, they definitely should be set in stone in the start of the year. This may avoid discipline problems in the future.
Making a Seating Chart
Changing the seating chart is a simple and useful way of making significant changes as far as discipline throughout the year. It is important to carefully plan out the seating chart from the very beginning of the year.
CoolcatTeacher Blog
Vicki Davis writes this blog from Camilla, GA. Ms. Davis teaches a variety of information technology classes to her middle schoolers, and had developed a reputation for using wikis to connect her classes with students all over the world. Here are links to three of her blog entries on how she starts her year:
Edutopia.org
There is a brief article here on starting the year. It elicited many comments from veteran teachers.
Establishing Collaboration
Article on collaboration
In any given class, the teacher must decide how he are she will balance the amount of work students do individually with how much the will do in groups. Though students typically enjoy working in groups, and research suggests a strong social component in learning, it is often difficult to plan activities where students work effectively together. A jigsaw activity was done with the above article buy one EDC 430 class. Here is the synthesis of the article.
Beginning of the Year Strategies
It is crucial for all teachers to have a set policies to begin the year. Students need clear expectations and goals to help guide them in having a healthy and successful learning experience in your classroom. This page will give you multiple tips to help you set up your classroom at the beginning of the year. It is extremely important that you stay consistent with your classroom policies and remind the students of their learning goals throughout the year. The following links will give you tips on the first day of school, establishing classroom policies, getting to know your students, and establishing collaboration. Simply use this page as a resource because it is important for every teacher to have policies which they are comfortable with. Every teacher is unique, so your classroom policies to start the year should reflect your unique personality.
Day One
First Day of School
Some helpful tips and main thing that you must have ready before the first day of school. This article includes everything from decorating your classroom, establishing a seating chart, and coming up with a homework policy.
Step by step guide to Day 1
This article gives a step by step guide for experienced as well as beginner teachers on their first day of school. It itemizes everything from what to do before the first day of the year, setting the class structure from the beginning, and setting some key ground rules.
Connecting with Parents
Become a part of your student's life from day one by connecting with parents from the start.
The seven things students want to know on the first day of school
Icebreakers!
Establishing Policies
Key policies to start off the year
This article itemizes the Rules of Making Rules
1. Clarify- Create rules that are clear and concise. There should be no question of what is expected of them for the rest of the year.
2. Consistency- Be fair when disciplining students. They will know if you treat them differently and will take you less seriously.
3. Commitment- Put in the effort to stay committed to your rules. Follow up on everything and the students will have a better response.
Restroom Policies
This article gives some helpful hints about how to control excessive bathroom use, a common issue in middle and high schools.
Issues and Situations
This article brings up a lot of important issues about classroom management. One interesting and useful portion of this site itemizes specific issues and great solutions for each situation. It might be helpful to read through possible situations and solutions so that when these issues arise in your classroom, you will have ideas in the back of your head about possible ways to handle the issue.
Getting to Know Your Students & Setting Up Your Classroom
The Importance of Names
The article discusses the importance of teachers being referred to as Mrs. and Mr. in the classroom. Expectations like these should be set on the first day of class. Although many may think that topics like these should obvious, they definitely should be set in stone in the start of the year. This may avoid discipline problems in the future.
Making a Seating Chart
Changing the seating chart is a simple and useful way of making significant changes as far as discipline throughout the year. It is important to carefully plan out the seating chart from the very beginning of the year.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/class_setup/
Set up a virtual classroom to prepare your room!
Informative Blogs
Classroom management and motivation
Joel, a band teacher in Texas, maintains a blog where he chronicles his early teaching career and offers up his emerging wisdom at http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com. He has several posts on the link above. His post on handling students who test your limits and handling misbehavior are particularly good to keep in mind.
Musings from a Not So Master Teacher
A blog maintained by John Stevens. His advice to beginning teachers is here.
CoolcatTeacher Blog
Vicki Davis writes this blog from Camilla, GA. Ms. Davis teaches a variety of information technology classes to her middle schoolers, and had developed a reputation for using wikis to connect her classes with students all over the world. Here are links to three of her blog entries on how she starts her year:
Edutopia.org
There is a brief article here on starting the year. It elicited many comments from veteran teachers.
Establishing Collaboration
Article on collaboration
In any given class, the teacher must decide how he are she will balance the amount of work students do individually with how much the will do in groups. Though students typically enjoy working in groups, and research suggests a strong social component in learning, it is often difficult to plan activities where students work effectively together. A jigsaw activity was done with the above article buy one EDC 430 class. Here is the synthesis of the article.
Back to the homepage